Automatic railway-switch



(No Moda.)

` C. FORTH.

AUTOMATIG RAILWAY SWITCH.

No'l 423,865.

Patenbed'Mar. 18,'1890.

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UNITED STATES i PATENT OEEICE.,

CHARLES FORTH, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

AUTOMATIC RAI LWAY-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,865, dated March 18, 1890.

Application filed September 2l, 1889. Serial Nox 324,695. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES FORTH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Railway-Switches; andIhereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic switches operated by a passing car;

and its object is to obviate the disadvantages of the switches now in common use and lessen the expense of tending track-switches, aud avoid the loss of time thereby incurred.

My invention is especially adapted to streetcar tracks; and it consists in means for operating the switch-tongue automatically from a passing car, and in the combination and arrangement of the various parts of the switch and manner of connecting with a car-body, with means for operating the same, as hereinafter described, shown in the accompanying drawings, 'and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a view of a car resting upon a switch, showing my improved mechanism for operating the same. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the track and switch. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of track, show* ing hanger from car-body and switch. Fig. 4 is a detail of switch mechanism, and Fig. 5 a detail of the pivoted bar and attachments in perspective. Figs. 6 and? show sectional views of a car-wheel adapted to operate the switch.

`In the drawings, A is the tongue of a switch operating upon the pivot a to conneet the main track B and side track C. A

plate, as D, is placed underneath the tongue, provided with the ridges d and d', to receive and guide the wheels of the car between the ends of the rails, and also to receive and support the operating mechanism for the tongue. Each of these ridges d and d is perforated at d2 to receive a pin, as E, projecting slightly above the surface of the ridge, and provided with a conical or beveled upper extremity, as E. A strip of metal, as F, is pivoted in end bearings, asf, underneath the plate D, and receives the lower ends of the pins E, pivotally attached at e ou either side of the pivotal line. A bar or arm, as G, passes upward through a slot d3 in the plate and engages with the tongue A, preferably near its pivotal point a, in such amanner thatthe depression of either of the pins E will cause the arm G to vibrate and connect the free end of the tongue with one or the other open ends of rails B or C, and admit apassipg car to either the switch or main tracks.

To avoid the loss of time involved and the inconvenience of operating the switch from outside the car, an automatic attachment is shown, by means of which it may be operated from the car. In Fig. 3 is shownin detail a view of a simple device for this purpose7 in which G is a horizontal bar centrally suspended from a pivot g underneath the car, preferably near its center, but in front of the wheels. From this bar depend-two rigid lugs g', provided with rollers g2 in their lower ends, so arranged as to engage with either of the projecting pins E on either side of the wheel, as it is desired to pass the car into the main or side tracks. Means is' shown for oscillating the pivoted bar Gr, consisting of a bell-crank I-I, rod I, and lever J on the front platform. (See Fig. l.) The pinsE are placed on either side of the track of the wheels, so as not to be operated by them, but so as to be easily moved by the passing rollers.

In Figs. (5 and 7 is shown a wheel provided with an extended flange, as K, for operating the pin E, the ilange of the usual width not disturbing it in passing. It will be observed that this arrangement of the pins and iianges allows all common wheels of a car to pass over the tread of the rail without iniluencing the switch, while only the wheels provided with flanges operate the switch-tongue. One of these wheels in front of Jthe car may depress the pin on the exterior of the rail, while the rear wheel may be provided with an interiorly -projecting iiange and return the switch to its former position; or the different wheels may be on' separate cars intended for separate lines of track connected by the switch.

I do not claim the exact shape or details of construction herein described and shown. Other equivalent forms may be used to accomplish the same purpose-as a rod and IOO system of cranks to operate the tongue from the pins, or rigid hangers depending from the car. Such is not of the spirit of my invention; but

Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In au automatic switch operated by the carin passing, a main rail provided With a side extension exterior to the tread of the wheel, a pin adapted to move vertically through said extension, a pivoted switch tongue, and mechanism connecting the pin with the tongue and changing l[he Vertical movement into a horizontal one of the tongue, in combination with au extended ange on the periphery of the Wheel, and means for returning the tongue toits original position, 

